India, March 25 -- Kashmir has recorded seven consecutive winters with below-normal precipitation

Reduced snowfall is weakening natural water storage, affecting rivers and irrigation

Warmer winters are disrupting orchards, crops and increasing pest outbreaks

Scientists say temperatures in the Valley have steadily risen over recent decades

Experts warn that policy responses have yet to match the pace of environmental change

For much of his childhood, Mushtaq Ahmad Shah remembers winter in Srinagar as a season defined by snow.

Now 64, Shah grew up in Lal Chowk, in the heart of the city, at a time when heavy snowfall was routine."We would wake up and find the courtyard covered with snow," he recalls. "Before we could go outside, we had...